Oil-lamp.



c. E. PALMER.

OIL LAMP.

APPLlCATlON FILED AUG. [8. 1916.

1 ,21 8,889 Patented Mar. 13, 1917.

fiarZea Edam/211 40):

Jlomeq onAnLEs EDMUND PALMER, or CASTLE CARY, ENGLAND.

OIL-LAMP.

1" Application filed August 18, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES EDMUND.

PALMER, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and residing at Castle Cary, in the county ofSomerset, England, railway lampman, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil-Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

This'i vention relates to oil lamps of the type in which, as'has been proposed, different portions of a wick may be brought in succession beneath the flame opening, whereby the wick will last for a long while without need for being trimmed, and whereby if the movement of the wick is rendered automatic the lamp will burn for a long period continuously vithout requiring any attention. According to means which have previously been proposed for the purpose, the wick was to be drawn over a rigid support and the portion of the wick which was at any-time beneath the flame opening would be some part of the wick intermediate its ends, or the wick was formed as a ring which was clamped between sides of a revolving holder and portions of the surface of this ring were brought in succession beneath the wick fiame'by the revolving movement of the holder and the ring was fed withoil by a pillar of wick material which dipped into the oil and made contact-at its upper end with the ring.

Now, this invention has for its main object to utilize a wick of flat shape of which the surface of the upper end only will move beneath the flame opening and bring differentportions thereof in succession beneath such opening According to this invention, a flat wick is employed which passes up through a correspondingly-shaped holder and 1s of considerably greater width than the flame opening through the flame controller (the width of the opening being regarded as the dis tance between its ends), and the upper sur face of this wick is moved edgewise beneath the flame opening. either automatically by means of a float within the oil reservoir, or, if desired, from time to time by hand.

A convenient practical application of the invention is illustrated by the drawings herewith, of which Figure 1 shows, partly in side elevation and partly in section, as much as is necessary in this view to illustrate the lamp.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the burner appa Specification of Letters Patent.

. which is .tion shown by Patented Mar. 13, 1917. Serial No. 115,731.

ratus'shown as detached from the reservoir or lamp base.

Fig. 3 is a vert cal section through the burner apparatus taken on the line w w of Fig. l, the lower portion of the wick-holder being broken away for convenience of illustration and,

Figure fl: shows aside elevation, partly in section, of a modified form of the burner apparatus.

Referringfirst'to the application of the inventionshown by Figs. 1, 2, and 3 :-Ais the oil reservoir, B the wickeholder which is capable of turning about a fixed axis Z) which is carried by the reservoir. C is a pair of arms which are fixed at their inner ends to the lower end of the wick-holder B, and have pivoted between their outer ends a float D which may be of hollow sheet metal structure or of other convenient construction. G is a hood or flame-controller which is struck to a curve from the axis b as a center and passes over the entire path through which the upper end of the wick, also struck to a curve from the same center, moves as it is tilted fromthe one extreme position shown by full lines, Fig. 1, due to the reservoir being full, to

the other extreme position shown by broken lines, Fig. 1, due to the reservoir being substantially emptyl Through the middle of this hood is formed a flame-opening g which is of a. length which adapts it for the required flame. When the wick-holder is in the posilength only of the upper end of the wick, measured from the leading end, is beneath this opening, and the remaining portion of the upper end of the wick is for the time inert. As the oil in the reservoir gradually lowers, the upper end of the wick gradually moves over toward the position shown by broken lines, Fig. 1, the leading end of the wick passing from under the opening and becoming inert while other portions of the wick come gradually under the opening, and thus'the wick may be used without need for trimming while substantially the whole of the oil within the reservoir is being consumed.

The main body or straight portion'of the wick-holder B is carried up to within a short distance of the under surface of the hood G, as clearly shown by Fig. 3, but the upper portion of the wick-holder is surrounded, as clearly shown by such figure, and. also by full lines, Fig. 1, a short broken lines, Fig. 2, (and see also the lefthand corner of the top of the wick-holder which is shown in section by Fig. 1), with a structure Z) of trumpet-shaped section of which the upper edge comes up against, or near to, the under surface of the hood, and upon which, or upon surface rests. Each side of the hood is formed with a downward flange g and at the outer face of one of these flanges is marked a scale, and a pointer H which is rigid with the wick-holder, travels along the scale, as the wick-holder turns, and indicates the height at any moment of the oil within the reservoir. At one end of the scale may be marked the letter F indicating full and at the other end the letter E indicating empty.

The hood G is shown to be pivoted to a support K and may be turned back clear of the wick when the same is to be trimmed.

The whole of the burner apparatus may be ca 'ried upon a removable dish M which rests upon the top of the reservoir and is kept in place by a surrounding flange a. The wick-holder is surrounded by a shield b which prevents foreign substances from falling through the opening in the top of the reservoir through which the wick-holder passes and within which it tilts.

Plates such as A spaced apart sufficiently to allow the wick-holder and wick to operate and the oil to flow between them, may be fixed within the reservoir to prevent inconvenient wash when the lamp is being carried.

Referring now to the modification of the invention shown by Fig. 4:The hood is divided into two parts G which leave a gap g between them which corresponds to the opening 9 before described. These hood parts are pivotally connected with supports K upon which they may be turned back clear of the wick. One of the parts is shown by broken lines as partially turned back.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in an oil lamp, of a hood or flame-controller which has a flame opening therethrough, a. wick-holder of flat shape which is considerably wider than said flame opening, a flat-shaped wick which passes through said holder and is also considerably wider than said flame opening, and means whereby said wick-holder may be moved in relation to said hood or flame- Copies of this patent may be obtained for the wick itself, such controller to bring different portions of the width of the upper termination of the wick in succession beneath said flame opening, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in an oil lamp, of a hood or flame-controller which has a flame opening therethrough, a wick-holder of flat shape which is considerably wider than said flame opening and is pivotally connected with the lamp base, av flat-shaped wick which passes through said holder and is also considerably wider than said flame opening, whereby as the wick-holder is turned about its pivot axis it moves the upper end of the wick beneath the flame opening, bringing different portions of the wick in succession beneath such opening.

3. The combination, in an oil lamp, of a hood or flame-controller which has a flame opening therethrough, a wick-holder of flat shape which is considerably wider than said flame openin a flat-shaped wick which passes through said holder and is also considerably wider than said flame opening, and a float within the reservoir for the oil which, as it falls with the level of the oil, operates the wick-holder and thereby moves the upper end of the wick beneath the flame openin 4. The combination, in an oil lamp, of a hood or flame-controller which has a flame opening therethrough, a wick-holder which is pivotally connected with the lamp base and passes down into the oil reservoir and a float which is carried by the wick-holder, and as it falls with the level of the oil, turns the wick-holder beneath the flame opening, bringing different portions of the wick in succession beneath such opening.

5. Tl e combination, in an oil lamp, of a hood or flame-controller which has a flame opening therethrough, a wick-holder which is pivotally connected with the lamp base, whereby as the wick-holder is turned about its pivot axis it moves the upper end of the wick beneath the flame opening, a scale which is marked upon the flame-controller, and a pointer which turns with the wick holder and indicates, along said scale, the height of the oil within the reservoir.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 19th day of July, 1916, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES EDMUND PALMER.

Witnesses JOHN TV. V. Bnwnnrr, JOHN G. Arsnv.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

